In a conventional system formed of a plurality of client devices and a processing device such as a server that is connected to the client devices directly or over a network such as a Local Area Network (LAN), the client devices are used for entering required data and instructing execution of processing, and the processing device executes processing of relatively large loads as well as processing to be managed in a centralized fashion.
In this system, input forms corresponding to the processing device are generally distributed to the client devices. The client device displays a user interface described in the input form, and required data is entered according to the user interface. Data for transmission is created according to data production rules described in the input form, and is transmitted from the client device to the processing device according to a destination and a transmission method described in the input form.
Thus, the processing device in the conventional system distributes the input form that describes the user interface for data entry, a data structure and the data transmission method to the client devices, and this is performed for the purpose of receiving the data that is required for executing the processing and has a predefined data structure by the processing device from the client device in the predefined transmission method. The client device creates and transmits the data according to the input form.
WWW (Word Wide Web) system is a typical example of the above system. The WWW system uses the HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) for describing a user interface to be displayed, a destination and a transmission method in an input form. In the WWW system, the client device obtains the input form that is described in the HTML and is prepared by the processing device, and transmits data based on data entered by the user to the processing device with a HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol).
In the above system, the client device creates the data and transmits it to the processing device, and the processing device executes the processing based on the received data. Generally, in this system, the client device is supplied with the input form that includes the user interface for data entry, the data structure expected by the processing device and the data transmission method, and the data creation and transmission are performed using the input form. For accurate and rapid execution of the data entry by the user, methods of performing data entry by reusing data that was once entered by the user have been proposed.
As an example of such methods, a patent reference 1 has disclosed the following item information input method. In this method, a database has stored input data and keywords described in an input form in a fashion correlated to each other, and input data that is retrieved from the data base as the data matching with the keyword is automatically entered for an input item of the input form. The keyword and the input data can be added to the database for registration. By employing the item information input method disclosed in the patent reference 1, the input data is automatically entered for the input item provided that the registration in the database is already performed, even when the client device uses a browser different in keyword format from that used by the processing device, or even when keywords other than those in the format are assigned to the input item of the input form.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-306171